6 
BULLETIN" 814, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
of the fourth horse increases the efficiency of the unit by about the 
same percentage as in the spring plowing, and the addition of the 
fifth horse to the 16-inch plow results in a similar increase. The 
fact that nearly one-half of the farmers reported the use of more 
than three horses indicates that in fall plowing, excepting under 
favorable conditions, a sulky plow is somewhat of an overload for 
three horses. 
GANG PLOW. 
Over 450 men reported using horse-drawn gang plows on their 
farms. About 80 per cent of these plows have 14-inch bottoms. Most 
of the remaining plows have 12-inch bottoms. Some plows with 
13-inch bottoms were reported, but the number was so small that 
no figures on their performance are given. Over three-fourths of 
the men who use gang plows also reported the use of sulky plows. 
SPRING PLOWING. 
An average day's work for four and five horses pulling 12-inch 
gang plows cutting a total width of 24 inches, and four, five, and 
six horses drawing 14-inch plows cutting a total width of 28 inches, 
is given in Table IV. About an equal number use 4 and 5 horse 
teams on this implement. (See fig. 1.) The most common per- 
formance reported for both the 4 and 5 horse teams is 5 acres 
per day, although on an average the 5-horse teams drawing 28-inch 
plows cover about one-quarter of an acre more per day than do the 
4-horse teams and plow to a slightly greater depth. 
Table IV. — Spring plowing with gang plow. 
Width of 
plow. 
Xumber 
of horses. 
Xumber 
of reports. 
Acres per day. 
Average. 
Acreage most often 
reported. 
Inches. 
24 
24 
28 
28 
28 
4 
5 
4 
5 
6 
24 
15 
148 
"154 
68 
5.02 
4.72 
4.92 
5.15 
5.40 
o (15 reports). 
5 (8 reports'). 
5 (87 reports). 
5 (91 reports). 
j 5 (3G reports). 
\ 6 (26 reports). 
The apparent inconsistency in the acres covered per day by the 4 
and 5 horse teams with the 24-inch plows is probably due to the small 
number of reports entering into the average. Practically half of the 
men reporting on the 24-inch plows gave 5 acres as an average day's 
work, regardless of whether they used four or five horses. 
FALL PLOWING. 
Table V shows an average day's work in the fall for 5-horse teams 
with 24-inch plows, and 4, 5. and 6 horse teams with 28-inch plows. 
As compared with spring plowing, there is a marked increase in the 
